The art of making computers do stuff

Arcmage: Seeds of Magic

Arcmage: Seeds of Magic is a digital version of the card game Arcmage, based on the Sunflower card game engine. It allows playing the game single-player against AI opponents, and in the future will include a full single player campaign. It is still work in progress, with several known bugs or inaccuracies compared to the official Arcmage rules, and much work needed on the user interface and AI.

To install: Simply unzip to any folder. The game requires no installation.

To run: Activate the Arcmage.jar file. On most operating systems, a double-click on the file should be enough. If not, go to the command line, navigate to the game folder, and type “java -jar Arcmage.jar”. The game requires an updated version of the Java Runtime Environment, which you can get for free for all major operating systems.

To play – Currently the game includes three options:

– Local game: Play a local two player game, humans controlling both players.
– Single Player: Play against AI.
– AI Game: Watch two AIs playing against each other.

Once the game starts, you’ll see the name of the game phase near the bottom of the screen. Instructions for each phase:

(Note: It is recommended to read the game rules in the Arcmage website here. The following instructions are about how to use specifically the digital version)

– Place City: Drag each city card from your hand to an appropriate “City” zone. One city is allowed per zone.
– Draw & Resource: Either drag a card from your deck to your hand, or from your hand to the desired “Power” zone.
– Tactics: Click on any creature in any “Kingdom” zone to devote it to the city.
– Play Card: To play a creature or event from your hand, click on it. If it is a creature, click then on the zone where the creature should go. To move a creature, click on the creature and then on the target zone. To use a creature action, click on the creature twice. If necessary, click on as many target creatures as the action requires.
– Mark Attacker: Click on any creature in your “Army” zone you’d like to attack with.
– Mark Attack Target: To attack a city, click on the corresponding “Kingdom” zone (not the “City” zone). To attack the enemy player, click their “Army” zone.
– Mark Defender: Click on any creature you’d like to defend with, followed by a click on the attacking creature you’d like to defend against. Note that the attacking creatures are marked with a lightning icon, and the attack target is written above the game phase name.
– Discard: Drag a card from your hand to the “Graveyard” zone.
– Escape from city: Drag a creature from the city that had just been destroyed to another city, or to your army.

For any optional phase (Tactics, Play Card, Mark Attacker, Mark Defender), press Enter to end the phase.
At any time, you may press Z while hovering over a (face-up) card to “zoom” into it (see an enlarged version of it).

Current bugs or issues compared with the official rules:

– Only the Gaian deck is currently implemented, and lacking one card, Grassroots, replaced with fourth instances of three other cards.
– Damage is currently reset after each action – This means, for example, that you cannot use two elvish ambushes to destroy one Defense 2 creature. Elvish ambush will destroy a Defense 1 creature, or do nothing.
– The official rules say: “A given city may be involved in a move only once per turn”. This is currently not enforced in the game.
– Elvish ambush currently ignores modifiers – if used against Nourished Flower or Sequoia Saplings, it can destroy them even if they have modifiers that increase their defense.
– If multiple defenders are blocking an attacker, the attack damage will hit all of them.
– Sanctuary currently works on the “honor system” – The AI will not target creatures protected by Sanctuary, but the game will not stop you if you try to do it.
– When using Spirit Tree, there is currently no way to select which card to ressurect. The bottom one in the graveyard is automatically selected.